U.S. patent application number 12/973726 was filed with the patent office on 2012-02-16 for mechanism for facilitating efficient collection and presentation of business activity monitoring data.
This patent application is currently assigned to SALESFORCE.COM, INC.. Invention is credited to MICHAEL DAVID BLUBAUGH.
Application Number | 20120041945 12/973726 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 45565533 |
Filed Date | 2012-02-16 |
United States Patent
Application |
20120041945 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
BLUBAUGH; MICHAEL DAVID |
February 16, 2012 |
MECHANISM FOR FACILITATING EFFICIENT COLLECTION AND PRESENTATION OF
BUSINESS ACTIVITY MONITORING DATA
Abstract
In accordance with embodiments, there are provided methods and
systems for facilitating efficient collection and presentation of
business activity monitoring data. A method of embodiments includes
receiving business activity monitoring (BAM) data from a business
process management (BPM) engine residing at a first entity. The BAM
data is received in a first format that is compatible with the
first entity. The method further includes customizing the first
format of the BAM data into a second format of the BAM data. The
second format is compatible with the second entity. The second
entity includes an organization whose business activities are
monitored to generate the BAM data that relates to monitoring of
the business activities.
Inventors: |
BLUBAUGH; MICHAEL DAVID;
(San Francisco, CA) |
Assignee: |
SALESFORCE.COM, INC.
San Francisco
CA
|
Family ID: |
45565533 |
Appl. No.: |
12/973726 |
Filed: |
December 20, 2010 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
61374085 |
Aug 16, 2010 |
|
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Current U.S.
Class: |
707/722 ;
707/E17.009 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 16/25 20190101 |
Class at
Publication: |
707/722 ;
707/E17.009 |
International
Class: |
G06F 17/30 20060101
G06F017/30 |
Claims
1. A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving business
activity monitoring (BAM) data from a business process management
(BPM) engine residing at a first entity, wherein the BAM data is
received in a first format that is compatible with the first
entity; and customizing the first format of the BAM data into a
second format of the BAM data, wherein the second format is
compatible with the second entity, wherein the second entity
includes an organization whose business activities are monitored to
generate the BAM data that relates to monitoring of the business
activities.
2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising
actively receiving the BAM data by demanding the BAM data from the
BPM engine.
3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising
passively receiving the BAM data, wherein passively receiving
includes automatically and periodically receiving the BAM data
based on predetermined criteria.
4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first
entity comprises a provider computing system hosting the BPM
engine.
5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the second
format comprising a BAM dashboard providing the BAM data.
6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising
providing the BAM dashboard to a remote computing system via cloud
computing, wherein the remote computing system includes a client
computing system having an application to display the BAM
dashboard.
7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein receiving
and customizing are performed at a third entity, the third entity
including a server computing system.
8. A machine-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of
instructions, which instructions, when executed by one or more
processors, cause the one or more processors to carry out the steps
of: receiving business activity monitoring (BAM) data from a
business process management (BPM) engine residing at a first
entity, wherein the BAM data is received in a first format that is
compatible with the first entity; and customizing the first format
of the BAM data into a second format of the BAM data, wherein the
second format is compatible with the second entity, wherein the
second entity includes an organization whose business activities
are monitored to generate the BAM data that relates to monitoring
of the business activities.
9. The machine-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the one or more
processors are further to carry out the step of actively receiving
the BAM data by demanding the BAM data from the BPM engine.
10. The machine-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the one or more
processors are further to carry out the step of passively receiving
the BAM data, wherein passively receiving includes automatically
and periodically receiving the BAM data based on predetermined
criteria.
11. The machine-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the first
entity comprises a provider computing system hosting the BPM
engine.
12. The machine-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the second
format comprising a BAM dashboard providing the BAM data.
13. The machine-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the one or more
processors are further to carry out the step of providing the BAM
dashboard to a remote computing system via cloud computing, wherein
the remote computing system includes a client computing system
having an application to display the BAM dashboard.
14. The machine-readable medium of claim 8, wherein receiving and
customizing are performed at a third entity, the third entity
including a server computing system.
15. An apparatus comprising: a processor; and one or more stored
sequences of instructions which, when executed by the processor,
cause the processor to carry out the steps of: receiving business
activity monitoring (BAM) data from a business process management
(BPM) engine residing at a first entity, wherein the BAM data is
received in a first format that is compatible with the first
entity; and customizing the first format of the BAM data into a
second format of the BAM data, wherein the second format is
compatible with the second entity, wherein the second entity
includes an organization whose business activities are monitored to
generate the BAM data that relates to monitoring of the business
activities.
16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processor is further to
carry out the step of: actively receiving the BAM data by demanding
the BAM data from the BPM engine
17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processor is further to
carry out the step of: passively receiving the BAM data, wherein
passively receiving includes automatically and periodically
receiving the BAM data based on predetermined criteria.
18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the first entity comprises a
provider computing system hosting the BPM engine.
19. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the second format comprising
a BAM dashboard providing the BAM data.
20. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processor is further to
carry out the step of: providing the BAM dashboard to a remote
computing system via cloud computing, wherein the remote computing
system includes a client computing system having an application to
display the BAM dashboard.
Description
CLAIM OF PRIORITY
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional
Patent Application No. 61/374,085, entitled "Business Activity
Feed" by Mike Blubaugh, filed Aug. 16, 2010 (Attorney Docket No.
8956P037Z), the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by
reference and priority is claimed thereof.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
[0002] A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains
material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright
owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of
the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the
Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise
reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0003] One or more implementations relate generally to business
activity monitoring and, more specifically, to a mechanism for
facilitating efficient collection and presentation of business
activity monitoring data in a database network system computing
environment.
BACKGROUND
[0004] The subject matter discussed in the background section
should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its
mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned
in the background section or associated with the subject matter of
the background section should not be assumed to have been
previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the
background section merely represents different approaches, which in
and of themselves may also be inventions.
[0005] In today's business environment, various business activities
(e.g., start/stop/duration time of a business project, modification
to employee details, workflow tasks, etc.) are monitored by
Business Process Management (BPM) engines or platforms. This
monitoring process is referred to as Business Activity Monitoring
(BAM). A BPM engine refers to a management entity (e.g., software,
hardware, or a combination of both) to synchronize organization and
client goals while promoting business effectiveness and
flexibility.
[0006] However, monitoring information relating to such business
activities are typically provided in log files at the source. In
other words, if an interested party (e.g., a Human Resources (HR)
manager, a salesperson, a computer developer, project support
teams, etc.) wishes to obtain relevant monitoring information, they
would have to typically rely on accessing it from log files or
consoles provided by the source (e.g., a particular product) of the
BPM engine itself. Since a BPM engine may be provided by a
third-party organization, their log files and consoles would be
limited in their data format as provided by the BPM engine and may
not be friendly to or compatible with the data formats that are
generally supported by the host organization (e.g., a business
organization or company) whose business activities are being
monitored by the BPM engine. These conventional monitoring
information collection processes can be unfriendly, cumbersome, and
prone to human error, and can become convoluted, inefficient, and
costly when large amounts of monitoring information is to be
obtained and/or a large number of interested parties are involved,
and so forth.
[0007] In conventional database systems, users access their data
resources in one logical database. A user of such a conventional
system typically retrieves data from and stores data on the system
using the user's own systems. A user system might remotely access
one of a plurality of server systems that might in turn access the
database system. Data retrieval from the system might include the
issuance of a query from the user system to the database system.
The database system might process the request for information
received in the query and send to the user system information
relevant to the request.
[0008] Unfortunately, conventional database approaches might
process a query relatively slowly and inefficiently if, for
example, the number of queries received by the database system or
the number of interested parties is relatively high, or the format
of the results of such queries is incompatible with the format
supported by the host organization.
SUMMARY
[0009] In accordance with embodiments, there are provided methods
and systems for facilitating efficient collection and presentation
of business activity monitoring data. A method of embodiments
includes receiving business activity monitoring (BAM) data from a
business process management (BPM) engine residing at a first
entity. The BAM data is received in a first format that is
compatible with the first entity. The method further includes
customizing the first format of the BAM data into a second format
of the BAM data. The second format is compatible with the second
entity. The second entity includes an organization whose business
activities are monitored to generate the BAM data that relates to
monitoring of the business activities.
[0010] While one or more implementation techniques are described
with reference to an embodiment in which techniques for efficient
collection and presentation of business activity monitoring data in
a database network system computing environment are implemented in
a system having an application server providing a front end for an
on-demand database service capable of supporting multiple tenants,
the one or more implementations are not limited to multi-tenant
databases nor deployment on application servers. Embodiments may be
practiced using other database architectures, i.e., ORACLE.RTM.,
DB2.RTM. by IBM and the like without departing from the scope of
the embodiments claimed.
[0011] Any of the above embodiments may be used alone or together
with one another in any combination. One or more implementations
encompassed within this specification may also include embodiments
that are only partially mentioned or alluded to or are not
mentioned or alluded to at all in this brief summary or in the
abstract. Although various embodiments may have been motivated by
various deficiencies with the prior art, which may be discussed or
alluded to in one or more places in the specification, the
embodiments do not necessarily address any of these deficiencies.
In other words, different embodiments may address different
deficiencies that may be discussed in the specification. Some
embodiments may only partially address some deficiencies or just
one deficiency that may be discussed in the specification, and some
embodiments may not address any of these deficiencies.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0012] In the following drawings like reference numbers are used to
refer to like elements. Although the following figures depict
various examples, one or more implementations are not limited to
the examples depicted in the figures.
[0013] FIG. 1 illustrates a host machine employing business
activity monitoring mechanism according to one embodiment;
[0014] FIG. 2 illustrates business activity monitoring mechanism
according to one embodiment;
[0015] FIG. 3 illustrates a method for efficient collection and
presentation of business activity monitoring data according to one
embodiment;
[0016] FIG. 4 illustrates a computer system according to one
embodiment;
[0017] FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of an environment wherein
an on-demand database service might be used according to one
embodiment; and
[0018] FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment of
elements of environment of FIG. 5 and various possible
interconnections between these elements according to one
embodiment.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0019] Methods and systems are provided for facilitating efficient
collection and presentation of business activity monitoring
data.
[0020] Embodiments provide for an efficient collection and
presentation of monitoring data relating to business activities of
an organization. In one embodiment, monitoring data is provided,
periodically or on-demand, to a user (e.g., a party of interest,
such as individual employees in various positions, HR or other
departments, software developers, production support teams, C-level
management, etc.) in a format that is friendly to the user and
compatible with the local or host organization (e.g., company or
business organization, government entity, educational institute) of
the user.
[0021] Monitoring of business activities by a BPM engine or
platform may include tracking of individual business activities
(also referred to as "processes") to provide periodic status and
relevant statistics of such processes. An example of status may
include tracking status of a product shipment and its statistics
may include on-time delivery rate of such product shipments, number
of orders placed per month, amount billed to customers versus
amount received from customers, and the like. Monitoring of
business processes can help in identifying existing and/or
potential problems so that performance of such processes may be
improved. It is contemplated that wide range in terms of type and
number of business activities or processes can be monitored
depending on the goals of a business organization and their
customers' needs and wants. Further, monitoring can be done, in
real-time, periodically or on-demand. BPM engines or platforms are
provided by various companies, such as Oracle.RTM., Cordys,
Boomi.RTM., etc.
[0022] As used herein, the term multi-tenant database system refers
to those systems in which various elements of hardware and software
of the database system may be shared by one or more customers. For
example, a given application server may simultaneously process
requests for a great number of customers, and a given database
table may store rows for a potentially much greater number of
customers. As used herein, the term query plan refers to a set of
steps used to access information in a database system.
[0023] Next, mechanisms and methods for providing efficient
collection and presentation of business activity monitoring data
will be described with reference to example embodiments.
[0024] FIG. 1 illustrates a host machine 100 employing business
activity monitoring mechanism 108 according to one embodiment. Host
machine 100 comprises a computing platform, which may be capable,
for example, of working with a standard operating system 106.
Operating system 106 serves as an interface between any hardware or
physical resources of the host machine 100 and a user. In some
embodiments, base hardware platform may include a processor 102,
memory devices 104, network devices, drivers, and so on. Host
machine 100 may include a server computing system or a client
computing system and further, terms like "machine", "device",
"computer", "computing device", and "computing system" are used
interchangeably and synonymously throughout this document.
[0025] In one embodiment, the host machine 100 employs business
activity monitoring (BAM) mechanism 108 (also referred herein as
"BAM feed") to provide an efficient collection and presentation of
monitoring data obtained from monitoring of business activities or
processes of, for example, a business organization. In one
embodiment, the BAM mechanism 108 may passively receive (via a
"push" mechanism) or actively demand (e.g., a "pull" mechanism) BAM
data from any number of BPM engines or platforms responsible for
monitoring various activities of the organization. The BAM data is
then processed by the BAM mechanism 108 using certain available
information or techniques, such as configuration files 228,
transformation logic 230, etc., to convert the data into a format
acceptable (and/or preferred) by the host organization.
[0026] For example, a BPM engine monitors employment processes and
the BAM data relating to employment process monitoring received at
the BAM mechanism 108. Here, the employment BAM data is processed
and transformed using configuration files 228, transformation logic
230, etc., into a form that is acceptable and/or preferred by the
host organization (e.g., salesforce.com). Continuing with the
example, object service (e.g., salesforce.com object service) may
be used to invoke salesforce.com and handling logging and errors.
Further, for example, custom objects (e.g., salesforce.com custom
objects) may be used to store the employment BAM data using a
particular format (e.g., a template) to ensure consistency and
compatibility with the organization; consequently, using the custom
objects, various reports and BAM dashboards are provided for the
user to see view the employment BAM data. In one embodiment, custom
objects and reports and dashboards being part of the BAM mechanism
108 may reside at the host machine 100 or at one or more cloud
machines of cloud architecture in communication with remote client
machines that are used by end-users to view the BAM data.
[0027] FIG. 2 illustrates business activity monitoring mechanism
108 according to one embodiment. In one embodiment, BAM mechanism
108 is hosted by machine B 100 which may include a server computing
system in communication with machine A 210 that hosts a BPM engine
212, and machine C 240 which represents any number of computing
systems that are part of cloud computing or architecture 242 having
a large group of computing systems. In the illustrated embodiment,
custom objects 234 and report and dashboards 236 are shown at the
cloud architecture 242, but, as described with reference to FIG. 1,
they are regarded as part of the BAM mechanism 108 that, in the
illustrated case, is extended into the cloud architecture 242.
[0028] In one embodiment, the BPM engine or platform 212 (e.g.,
Oracle BPEL engine, Cordys, Boomi, etc.) includes one or more
sensors 214 and/or one or more Application Programming Interfaces
(API) 216 to communicate BAM data to the BAM mechanism. In one
embodiment, a sensor 214 registers itself with the BPM engine 212
so that any BAM data produced by the BPM engine 212 can be "pushed"
(according to a "push" mechanism) to a sensor subscriber 224 of the
BAM mechanism 108. The sensor subscriber 224 listens to the BAM
data that it periodically receives from the sensor 214 according
to, for example, predetermined criteria. In another embodiment, a
poller 226 of the BPM mechanism 108 polls (according to a "pull"
mechanism) an API of the BPM engine 212 for the BAM data that the
BPM engine 212 has collected. It is contemplated that both the push
and pull mechanisms can be used simultaneously or the BAM mechanism
108 can alternate between the two or one of the push and pull
mechanisms may be used exclusively, as desired or necessitated.
[0029] Once the data has been received at the BAM mechanism 108, it
is then sent to a transform engine 222 for additional processing.
Examples of such as transform engine 222 include, but are not
limited to, Extensible Markup Language (XML) Intelligent Transform
Engine (XITE), CR-X transformation engine, etc. The transform
engine 222 analyzes the type of BAM data that is published by the
BPM engine 212 and received at the transform engine 222 and uses a
particular transformation standard (e.g., Extensible Stylesheet
Language Transformations (XSLT), XML Query (XQuery), etc.) to
convert or transform the received BAM data into a custom format
using, for example, an object service or service call (e.g.,
salesforce.com web service call). In one embodiment, the transform
engine 222 is capable of using various transformation standards
(e.g., logic code, language formats, intelligence, etc.) provided
by transformation files 230 and configuration information (e.g.,
configuration code to look for and understand messages relating to
third-party processes, such as relating to employment updates
received from a third-party BPM engine 212) provided by
configuration files 228 to receive BAM data from any number or type
of BPM engines 212 and transform the BAM data into any number or
type of customized formats to provide the BAM data to a user (e.g.,
employees, project groups, software developers, company management,
etc.) via a BAM application 252 that is used to receive and display
the BAM data on a user device 250.
[0030] In one embodiment, the aforementioned object service 232 is
responsible for invoking the proper customized format (e.g., a
salesforce.com object service invokes a salesforce.com customized
format) and handing the relevant logging (of BAM data-related
transactions) and error transactions by generating custom objects
234 (e.g., salesforce.com custom objects). Custom objects 234 refer
to data entries that are used for storing BAM data using, for
example, templates to ensure consistency. Using custom objects 234,
various customized and/or compatible reports and dashboards 236
(e.g., salesforce.com BAM dashboard) are generated and provided as
BAM dashboard, etc., via a BAM application 252 to the user. As
aforementioned, custom objects 234 and reports/dashboards 236 are
generated and provided as part of the BAM mechanism 208; although,
they may be accessed and provided through cloud machines C 240 that
are part of a cloud computing architecture 242. In one embodiment,
a Graphical User Interface (GUI)-based BAM application 252 may be
used at the client machine D 250 to provide BAM dashboard or other
form of BAM data display to the user. Similarly, the BAM
application 252 can be used to provide log or error details
generated by the BAM mechanism 108 to the user.
[0031] FIG. 3 illustrates a method for facilitating efficient
collection and presentation of business activity monitoring data
according to one embodiment. Method 300 may be performed by
hardware, software, or a combination thereof. In one embodiment,
method 300 is performed by business activity monitoring mechanism
of FIG. 1.
[0032] Method 300 begins within BAM mechanism receiving BAM data in
a first format from a BPM engine at block 305. This first format is
acceptable to, compatible with, and provided by a third-party
organization or computing system hosting the BPM engine. In one
embodiment, the BAM data is provided based on the push mechanism
from a sensor at the BPM engine to a sensor subscriber of the BAM
mechanism. In another embodiment, the BAM data is provided based on
the pull mechanism from an API at the BPM engine to a poller of the
BAM mechanism. At block 310, the BAM data is received by a
transform engine 222 of the BAM mechanism to be processed from the
first format to a second format. The second format is acceptable to
and compatible with a receiving entity, such as the organization or
company (e.g., salesforce.com) whose business activities are being
monitored by the BPM engine and whose users (e.g., employees,
management, project teams, etc.) are expected to review and process
the BAM data. The transform engine, in one embodiment, uses
configuration files 228 (e.g., configuration code) and
transformation logic (e.g., transformation standards, such as XSLT,
etc.) to convert the first format into an object service (e.g., web
service call, such as a salesforce.com web service call) for the
first format to be eventually converted in the second format at
block 315.
[0033] At block 320, the object service invokes custom objects
(e.g., salesforce.com custom objects) of the business organization
or company for storing the BAM data at a local database using an
acceptable system, such as customized or standard templates to
ensure consistency. Other than invoking custom objects, the object
service may be used to form and provide logging and error tracking
information relating to BAM data-related transactions. At block
325, using the invoked custom objects, various customized reports
and BAM dashboards (e.g., salesforce.com BAM dashboard) are
generated in the second format. At block 330, such BAM reports and
dashboards in the second format are provided to the user via a BAM
application on a client machine.
[0034] FIG. 4 illustrates a diagrammatic representation of a
machine 400 in the exemplary form of a computer system, in
accordance with one embodiment, within which a set of instructions,
for causing the machine 400 to perform any one or more of the
methodologies discussed herein, may be executed. In alternative
embodiments, the machine may be connected (e.g., networked) to
other machines in a Local Area Network (LAN), an intranet, an
extranet, or the Internet. The machine may operate in the capacity
of a server or a client machine in a client-server network
environment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or
distributed) network environment or as a server or series of
servers within an on-demand service environment, including an
on-demand environment providing multi-tenant database storage
services. Certain embodiments of the machine may be in the form of
a personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a
Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, a web
appliance, a server, a network router, switch or bridge, computing
system, or any machine capable of executing a set of instructions
(sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that
machine. Further, while only a single machine is illustrated, the
term "machine" shall also be taken to include any collection of
machines (e.g., computers) that individually or jointly execute a
set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more
of the methodologies discussed herein.
[0035] The exemplary computer system 400 includes a processor 402,
a main memory 404 (e.g., read-only memory (ROM), flash memory,
dynamic random access memory (DRAM) such as synchronous DRAM
(SDRAM) or Rambus DRAM (RDRAM), etc., static memory such as flash
memory, static random access memory (SRAM), volatile but high-data
rate RAM, etc.), and a secondary memory 418 (e.g., a persistent
storage device including hard disk drives and persistent
multi-tenant data base implementations), which communicate with
each other via a bus 430. Main memory 404 includes emitted
execution data 424 (e.g., data emitted by a logging framework) and
one or more trace preferences 423 which operate in conjunction with
processing logic 426 and processor 402 to perform the methodologies
discussed herein.
[0036] Processor 402 represents one or more general-purpose
processing devices such as a microprocessor, central processing
unit, or the like. More particularly, the processor 402 may be a
complex instruction set computing (CISC) microprocessor, reduced
instruction set computing (RISC) microprocessor, very long
instruction word (VLIW) microprocessor, processor implementing
other instruction sets, or processors implementing a combination of
instruction sets. Processor 402 may also be one or more
special-purpose processing devices such as an application specific
integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA),
a digital signal processor (DSP), network processor, or the like.
Processor 402 is configured to execute the processing logic 426 for
performing the operations and functionality of BAM mechanism 108 as
described with reference to FIG. 1 and other figures discussed
herein.
[0037] The computer system 400 may further include a network
interface card 408. The computer system 400 also may include a user
interface 410 (such as a video display unit, a liquid crystal
display (LCD), or a cathode ray tube (CRT)), an alphanumeric input
device 412 (e.g., a keyboard), a cursor control device 414 (e.g., a
mouse), and a signal generation device 416 (e.g., an integrated
speaker). The computer system 400 may further include peripheral
device 436 (e.g., wireless or wired communication devices, memory
devices, storage devices, audio processing devices, video
processing devices, etc. The computer system 400 may further
include a Hardware based API logging framework 434 capable of
executing incoming requests for services and emitting execution
data responsive to the fulfillment of such incoming requests.
[0038] The secondary memory 418 may include a non-transitory
machine-readable storage medium (or more specifically a
machine-accessible storage medium) 431 on which is stored one or
more sets of instructions (e.g., software 422) embodying any one or
more of the methodologies or functions of BAM mechanism 108 as
described with reference to FIG. 1 and other figures described
herein. The software 422 may also reside, completely or at least
partially, within the main memory 404 and/or within the processor
402 during execution thereof by the computer system 400, the main
memory 404 and the processor 402 also constituting machine-readable
storage media. The software 422 may further be transmitted or
received over a network 420 via the network interface card 408.
[0039] FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of an environment 510
wherein an on-demand database service might be used. Environment
510 may include user systems 512, network 514, system 516,
processor system 517, application platform 518, network interface
520, tenant data storage 522, system data storage 524, program code
526, and process space 528. In other embodiments, environment 510
may not have all of the components listed and/or may have other
elements instead of, or in addition to, those listed above.
[0040] Environment 510 is an environment in which an on-demand
database service exists. User system 512 may be any machine or
system that is used by a user to access a database user system. For
example, any of user systems 512 can be a handheld computing
device, a mobile phone, a laptop computer, a work station, and/or a
network of computing devices. As illustrated in herein FIG. 5 (and
in more detail in FIG. 6) user systems 512 might interact via a
network 514 with an on-demand database service, which is system
516.
[0041] An on-demand database service, such as system 516, is a
database system that is made available to outside users that do not
need to necessarily be concerned with building and/or maintaining
the database system, but instead may be available for their use
when the users need the database system (e.g., on the demand of the
users). Some on-demand database services may store information from
one or more tenants stored into tables of a common database image
to form a multi-tenant database system (MTS). Accordingly,
"on-demand database service 516" and "system 516" will be used
interchangeably herein. A database image may include one or more
database objects. A relational database management system (RDMS) or
the equivalent may execute storage and retrieval of information
against the database object(s). Application platform 518 may be a
framework that allows the applications of system 516 to run, such
as the hardware and/or software, e.g., the operating system. In an
embodiment, on-demand database service 516 may include an
application platform 518 that enables creation, managing and
executing one or more applications developed by the provider of the
on-demand database service, users accessing the on-demand database
service via user systems 512, or third party application developers
accessing the on-demand database service via user systems 512.
[0042] The users of user systems 512 may differ in their respective
capacities, and the capacity of a particular user system 512 might
be entirely determined by permissions (permission levels) for the
current user. For example, where a salesperson is using a
particular user system 512 to interact with system 516, that user
system has the capacities allotted to that salesperson. However,
while an administrator is using that user system to interact with
system 516, that user system has the capacities allotted to that
administrator. In systems with a hierarchical role model, users at
one permission level may have access to applications, data, and
database information accessible by a lower permission level user,
but may not have access to certain applications, database
information, and data accessible by a user at a higher permission
level. Thus, different users will have different capabilities with
regard to accessing and modifying application and database
information, depending on a user's security or permission
level.
[0043] Network 514 is any network or combination of networks of
devices that communicate with one another. For example, network 514
can be any one or any combination of a LAN (local area network),
WAN (wide area network), telephone network, wireless network,
point-to-point network, star network, token ring network, hub
network, or other appropriate configuration. As the most common
type of computer network in current use is a TCP/IP (Transfer
Control Protocol and Internet Protocol) network, such as the global
internetwork of networks often referred to as the "Internet" with a
capital "I," that network will be used in many of the examples
herein. However, it should be understood that the networks that one
or more implementations might use are not so limited, although
TCP/IP is a frequently implemented protocol.
[0044] User systems 512 might communicate with system 516 using
TCP/IP and, at a higher network level, use other common Internet
protocols to communicate, such as HTTP, FTP, AFS, WAP, etc. In an
example where HTTP is used, user system 512 might include an HTTP
client commonly referred to as a "browser" for sending and
receiving HTTP messages to and from an HTTP server at system 516.
Such an HTTP server might be implemented as the sole network
interface between system 516 and network 514, but other techniques
might be used as well or instead. In some implementations, the
interface between system 516 and network 514 includes load sharing
functionality, such as round-robin HTTP request distributors to
balance loads and distribute incoming HTTP requests evenly over a
plurality of servers. At least as for the users that are accessing
that server, each of the plurality of servers has access to the
MTS' data; however, other alternative configurations may be used
instead.
[0045] In one embodiment, system 516, shown in FIG. 5, implements a
web-based customer relationship management (CRM) system. For
example, in one embodiment, system 516 includes application servers
configured to implement and execute CRM software applications as
well as provide related data, code, forms, webpages and other
information to and from user systems 512 and to store to, and
retrieve from, a database system related data, objects, and Webpage
content. With a multi-tenant system, data for multiple tenants may
be stored in the same physical database object, however, tenant
data typically is arranged so that data of one tenant is kept
logically separate from that of other tenants so that one tenant
does not have access to another tenant's data, unless such data is
expressly shared. In certain embodiments, system 516 implements
applications other than, or in addition to, a CRM application. For
example, system 516 may provide tenant access to multiple hosted
(standard and custom) applications, including a CRM application.
User (or third party developer) applications, which may or may not
include CRM, may be supported by the application platform 518,
which manages creation, storage of the applications into one or
more database objects and executing of the applications in a
virtual machine in the process space of the system 516.
[0046] One arrangement for elements of system 516 is shown in FIG.
5, including a network interface 520, application platform 518,
tenant data storage 522 for tenant data 523, system data storage
524 for system data 525 accessible to system 516 and possibly
multiple tenants, program code 526 for implementing various
functions of system 516, and a process space 528 for executing MTS
system processes and tenant-specific processes, such as running
applications as part of an application hosting service. Additional
processes that may execute on system 516 include database indexing
processes.
[0047] Several elements in the system shown in FIG. 5 include
conventional, well-known elements that are explained only briefly
here. For example, each user system 512 could include a desktop
personal computer, workstation, laptop, PDA, cell phone, or any
wireless access protocol (WAP) enabled device or any other
computing device capable of interfacing directly or indirectly to
the Internet or other network connection. User system 512 typically
runs an HTTP client, e.g., a browsing program, such as Microsoft's
Internet Explorer browser, Netscape's Navigator browser, Opera's
browser, or a WAP-enabled browser in the case of a cell phone, PDA
or other wireless device, or the like, allowing a user (e.g.,
subscriber of the multi-tenant database system) of user system 512
to access, process and view information, pages and applications
available to it from system 516 over network 514. Each user system
512 also typically includes one or more user interface devices,
such as a keyboard, a mouse, trackball, touch pad, touch screen,
pen or the like, for interacting with a graphical user interface
(GUI) provided by the browser on a display (e.g., a monitor screen,
LCD display, etc.) in conjunction with pages, forms, applications
and other information provided by system 516 or other systems or
servers. For example, the user interface device can be used to
access data and applications hosted by system 516, and to perform
searches on stored data, and otherwise allow a user to interact
with various GUI pages that may be presented to a user. As
discussed above, embodiments are suitable for use with the
Internet, which refers to a specific global internetwork of
networks. However, it should be understood that other networks can
be used instead of the Internet, such as an intranet, an extranet,
a virtual private network (VPN), a non-TCP/IP based network, any
LAN or WAN or the like.
[0048] According to one embodiment, each user system 512 and all of
its components are operator configurable using applications, such
as a browser, including computer code run using a central
processing unit such as an Intel Pentium.RTM. processor or the
like. Similarly, system 516 (and additional instances of an MTS,
where more than one is present) and all of their components might
be operator configurable using application(s) including computer
code to run using a central processing unit such as processor
system 517, which may include an Intel Pentium.RTM. processor or
the like, and/or multiple processor units. A computer program
product embodiment includes a machine-readable storage medium
(media) having instructions stored thereon/in which can be used to
program a computer to perform any of the processes of the
embodiments described herein. Computer code for operating and
configuring system 516 to intercommunicate and to process webpages,
applications and other data and media content as described herein
are preferably downloaded and stored on a hard disk, but the entire
program code, or portions thereof, may also be stored in any other
volatile or non-volatile memory medium or device as is well known,
such as a ROM or RAM, or provided on any media capable of storing
program code, such as any type of rotating media including floppy
disks, optical discs, digital versatile disk (DVD), compact disk
(CD), microdrive, and magneto-optical disks, and magnetic or
optical cards, nanosystems (including molecular memory ICs), or any
type of media or device suitable for storing instructions and/or
data. Additionally, the entire program code, or portions thereof,
may be transmitted and downloaded from a software source over a
transmission medium, e.g., over the Internet, or from another
server, as is well known, or transmitted over any other
conventional network connection as is well known (e.g., extranet,
VPN, LAN, etc.) using any communication medium and protocols (e.g.,
TCP/IP, HTTP, HTTPS, Ethernet, etc.) as are well known. It will
also be appreciated that computer code for implementing embodiments
can be implemented in any programming language that can be executed
on a client system and/or server or server system such as, for
example, C, C++, HTML, any other markup language, Java.TM.,
JavaScript, ActiveX, any other scripting language, such as
VBScript, and many other programming languages as are well known
may be used. (Java.TM. is a trademark of Sun Microsystems,
Inc.).
[0049] According to one embodiment, each system 516 is configured
to provide webpages, forms, applications, data and media content to
user (client) systems 512 to support the access by user systems 512
as tenants of system 516. As such, system 516 provides security
mechanisms to keep each tenant's data separate unless the data is
shared. If more than one MTS is used, they may be located in close
proximity to one another (e.g., in a server farm located in a
single building or campus), or they may be distributed at locations
remote from one another (e.g., one or more servers located in city
A and one or more servers located in city B). As used herein, each
MTS could include one or more logically and/or physically connected
servers distributed locally or across one or more geographic
locations. Additionally, the term "server" is meant to include a
computer system, including processing hardware and process
space(s), and an associated storage system and database application
(e.g., OODBMS or RDBMS) as is well known in the art. It should also
be understood that "server system" and "server" are often used
interchangeably herein. Similarly, the database object described
herein can be implemented as single databases, a distributed
database, a collection of distributed databases, a database with
redundant online or offline backups or other redundancies, etc.,
and might include a distributed database or storage network and
associated processing intelligence.
[0050] FIG. 6 also illustrates environment 510. However, in FIG. 6
elements of system 516 and various interconnections in an
embodiment are further illustrated. FIG. 6 shows that user system
512 may include processor system 512A, memory system 512B, input
system 512C, and output system 512D. FIG. 6 shows network 514 and
system 516. FIG. 6 also shows that system 516 may include tenant
data storage 522, tenant data 523, system data storage 524, system
data 525, User Interface (UI) 630, Application Program Interface
(API) 632, PL/SOQL 634, save routines 636, application setup
mechanism 638, applications servers 600.sub.1-600.sub.N, system
process space 602, tenant process spaces 604, tenant management
process space 610, tenant storage area 612, user storage 614, and
application metadata 616. In other embodiments, environment 510 may
not have the same elements as those listed above and/or may have
other elements instead of, or in addition to, those listed
above.
[0051] User system 512, network 514, system 516, tenant data
storage 522, and system data storage 524 were discussed above in
FIG. 5. Regarding user system 512, processor system 512A may be any
combination of one or more processors. Memory system 512B may be
any combination of one or more memory devices, short term, and/or
long term memory. Input system 512C may be any combination of input
devices, such as one or more keyboards, mice, trackballs, scanners,
cameras, and/or interfaces to networks. Output system 512D may be
any combination of output devices, such as one or more monitors,
printers, and/or interfaces to networks. As shown by FIG. 6, system
516 may include a network interface 520 (of FIG. 5) implemented as
a set of HTTP application servers 600, an application platform 518,
tenant data storage 522, and system data storage 524. Also shown is
system process space 602, including individual tenant process
spaces 604 and a tenant management process space 610. Each
application server 600 may be configured to tenant data storage 522
and the tenant data 523 therein, and system data storage 524 and
the system data 525 therein to serve requests of user systems 512.
The tenant data 523 might be divided into individual tenant storage
areas 612, which can be either a physical arrangement and/or a
logical arrangement of data. Within each tenant storage area 612,
user storage 614 and application metadata 616 might be similarly
allocated for each user. For example, a copy of a user's most
recently used (MRU) items might be stored to user storage 614.
Similarly, a copy of MRU items for an entire organization that is a
tenant might be stored to tenant storage area 612. A UI 630
provides a user interface and an API 632 provides an application
programmer interface to system 516 resident processes to users
and/or developers at user systems 512. The tenant data and the
system data may be stored in various databases, such as one or more
Oracle.TM. databases.
[0052] Application platform 518 includes an application setup
mechanism 638 that supports application developers' creation and
management of applications, which may be saved as metadata into
tenant data storage 522 by save routines 636 for execution by
subscribers as one or more tenant process spaces 604 managed by
tenant management process 610 for example. Invocations to such
applications may be coded using PL/SOQL 634 that provides a
programming language style interface extension to API 632. A
detailed description of some PL/SOQL language embodiments is
discussed in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 7,730,478 entitled,
"Method and System for Allowing Access to Developed Applicants via
a Multi-Tenant Database On-Demand Database Service", issued Jun. 1,
2010 to Craig Weissman, which is incorporated in its entirety
herein for all purposes. Invocations to applications may be
detected by one or more system processes, which manage retrieving
application metadata 616 for the subscriber making the invocation
and executing the metadata as an application in a virtual
machine.
[0053] Each application server 600 may be communicably coupled to
database systems, e.g., having access to system data 525 and tenant
data 523, via a different network connection. For example, one
application server 600.sub.1 might be coupled via the network 514
(e.g., the Internet), another application server 600.sub.N-1 might
be coupled via a direct network link, and another application
server 600.sub.N might be coupled by yet a different network
connection. Transfer Control Protocol and Internet Protocol
(TCP/IP) are typical protocols for communicating between
application servers 600 and the database system. However, it will
be apparent to one skilled in the art that other transport
protocols may be used to optimize the system depending on the
network interconnect used.
[0054] In certain embodiments, each application server 600 is
configured to handle requests for any user associated with any
organization that is a tenant. Because it is desirable to be able
to add and remove application servers from the server pool at any
time for any reason, there is preferably no server affinity for a
user and/or organization to a specific application server 600. In
one embodiment, therefore, an interface system implementing a load
balancing function (e.g., an F5 Big-IP load balancer) is
communicably coupled between the application servers 600 and the
user systems 512 to distribute requests to the application servers
600. In one embodiment, the load balancer uses a least connections
algorithm to route user requests to the application servers 600.
Other examples of load balancing algorithms, such as round robin
and observed response time, also can be used. For example, in
certain embodiments, three consecutive requests from the same user
could hit three different application servers 600, and three
requests from different users could hit the same application server
600. In this manner, system 516 is multi-tenant, wherein system 516
handles storage of, and access to, different objects, data and
applications across disparate users and organizations.
[0055] As an example of storage, one tenant might be a company that
employs a sales force where each salesperson uses system 516 to
manage their sales process. Thus, a user might maintain contact
data, leads data, customer follow-up data, performance data, goals
and progress data, etc., all applicable to that user's personal
sales process (e.g., in tenant data storage 522). In an example of
a MTS arrangement, since all of the data and the applications to
access, view, modify, report, transmit, calculate, etc., can be
maintained and accessed by a user system having nothing more than
network access, the user can manage his or her sales efforts and
cycles from any of many different user systems. For example, if a
salesperson is visiting a customer and the customer has Internet
access in their lobby, the salesperson can obtain critical updates
as to that customer while waiting for the customer to arrive in the
lobby.
[0056] While each user's data might be separate from other users'
data regardless of the employers of each user, some data might be
organization-wide data shared or accessible by a plurality of users
or all of the users for a given organization that is a tenant.
Thus, there might be some data structures managed by system 516
that are allocated at the tenant level while other data structures
might be managed at the user level. Because an MTS might support
multiple tenants including possible competitors, the MTS should
have security protocols that keep data, applications, and
application use separate. Also, because many tenants may opt for
access to an MTS rather than maintain their own system, redundancy,
up-time, and backup are additional functions that may be
implemented in the MTS. In addition to user-specific data and
tenant specific data, system 516 might also maintain system level
data usable by multiple tenants or other data. Such system level
data might include industry reports, news, postings, and the like
that are sharable among tenants.
[0057] In certain embodiments, user systems 512 (which may be
client systems) communicate with application servers 600 to request
and update system-level and tenant-level data from system 516 that
may require sending one or more queries to tenant data storage 522
and/or system data storage 524. System 516 (e.g., an application
server 600 in system 516) automatically generates one or more SQL
statements (e.g., one or more SQL queries) that are designed to
access the desired information. System data storage 524 may
generate query plans to access the requested data from the
database.
[0058] Each database can generally be viewed as a collection of
objects, such as a set of logical tables, containing data fitted
into predefined categories. A "table" is one representation of a
data object, and may be used herein to simplify the conceptual
description of objects and custom objects. It should be understood
that "table" and "object" may be used interchangeably herein. Each
table generally contains one or more data categories logically
arranged as columns or fields in a viewable schema. Each row or
record of a table contains an instance of data for each category
defined by the fields. For example, a CRM database may include a
table that describes a customer with fields for basic contact
information such as name, address, phone number, fax number, etc.
Another table might describe a purchase order, including fields for
information such as customer, product, sale price, date, etc. In
some multi-tenant database systems, standard entity tables might be
provided for use by all tenants. For CRM database applications,
such standard entities might include tables for Account, Contact,
Lead, and Opportunity data, each containing pre-defined fields. It
should be understood that the word "entity" may also be used
interchangeably herein with "object" and "table".
[0059] In some multi-tenant database systems, tenants may be
allowed to create and store custom objects, or they may be allowed
to customize standard entities or objects, for example by creating
custom fields for standard objects, including custom index fields.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/817,161, filed Apr. 2, 2004,
entitled "Custom Entities and Fields in a Multi-Tenant Database
System", and which is hereby incorporated herein by reference,
teaches systems and methods for creating custom objects as well as
customizing standard objects in a multi-tenant database system. In
certain embodiments, for example, all custom entity data rows are
stored in a single multi-tenant physical table, which may contain
multiple logical tables per organization. It is transparent to
customers that their multiple "tables" are in fact stored in one
large table or that their data may be stored in the same table as
the data of other customers.
[0060] While one or more implementations have been described by way
of example and in terms of the specific embodiments, it is to be
understood that one or more implementations are not limited to the
disclosed embodiments. To the contrary, it is intended to cover
various modifications and similar arrangements as would be apparent
to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the scope of the appended
claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to
encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements. It is to
be understood that the above description is intended to be
illustrative, and not restrictive.
* * * * *